Signing of Grant Agreement with Laos: Support for central hospitals in the capital and an outlying region to provide high-quality medical services and to achieve UHC

Press Releases

February 15, 2018

Signing of Grant Agreement with Laos: Support for central hospitals in the capital and an outlying region to provide high-quality medical services and to achieve UHC

signing ceremony

On February 15, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a grant agreement with the Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in Vientiane Capital, to provide grant aid of up to 1.94 billion yen for the Project for the Improvement of Setthathirath Hospital and Champasak Provincial Hospital.

The project will provide facilities and equipment to Setthathirath Hospital in Vientiane Capital and provide equipment to Champasak Provincial Hospital, a central hospital in the southern part of the country, thereby improving the quality of medical services and the training environment for doctors and nurses at both hospitals.

With the objective of attaining universal health coverage (UHC) [1] by 2025, the Government of Laos is making efforts to improve the medical service provision system. However, the Human Development Index [2] of Laos is low, 138th out of 188 countries, and the southern part of the country in particular has a high poverty rate and an inadequate medical service provision system such that the health index is low compared to other parts of the country. As central hospitals in regions, the hospitals are expected to provide medical services and play a central role in the training of doctors and nurses, but due to deteriorating and inadequate equipment, the hospitals are not able to meet the growing and more advanced needs of patients or the need for human resource development.

With the facilities and equipment provided by the project, it is expected that Setthathirath Hospital will be able to handle approximately 19 percent more outpatients and a 30 percent increase in diagnostic imaging, and that Champasak Provincial Hospital will be able to handle approximately an 11 percent increase in diagnostic imaging. With improvements in the training environment, it is also expected that both hospitals will be able to provide practical clinical training as central teaching hospitals.

In addition to this project, JICA is carrying out technical cooperation to strengthen health administration functions and improve the knowledge and technical skills of medical professionals, comprehensively supporting the achievement of UHC in Laos.

1: Universal health coverage (UHC): Health coverage such that all people receive appropriate health promotion, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services at affordable costs. As a commitment to achieve UHC by 2030, the “Tokyo Declaration on Universal Health Coverage” was adopted at the Universal Health Coverage Forum 2017 held in Tokyo in December 2017.
2: Human Development Index: A value established by the United Nations Development Programme as an inclusive socioeconomic index measuring social prosperity and the level of development of countries.

[Basic project information]

Country

Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Project title

The Project for the Improvement of Setthathirath Hospital and Champasak Provincial Hospital